Hoeffel-Brown race has hard edge

Dem incumbent, newcomer in 13th District trade jabs throughout campaign.

October 29, 2002|By Frank Devlin Of The Morning Call

U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel, D-13th District, and Republican Melissa Brown have been campaigning against each other for five months. But one needed to hear only a few minutes of their radio debate last week to grasp the tone of their race. Al Gore might call it "snippy."

Hoeffel said a television advertisement by the Brown campaign unfairly accused him of harassing her. Brown responded that Hoeffel did harass her, at an earlier debate where Hoeffel said Brown was "at home dreaming up her little comments to me." Brown said Hoeffel wouldn't have made that comment about a male politician.

Hoeffel said the "dreaming up" phrase applied to the way Brown and her political advisers had been, in his view, circulating unfair and incorrect information about him. He didn't regret the statement.

"That's scary," Brown responded.

About the only things Brown, an ophthalmologist on leave from her Flourtown practice, and Hoeffel, a second-term incumbent, have agreed on is their support for abortion rights and Israel's right to security. They diverge on how to solve the medical malpractice insurance crisis, the best way to get prescription drugs to seniors, President Bush's tax cuts and Hoeffel's political philosophy.

Brown says Hoeffel, 52, of Abington Township, passes himself off as a moderate Democrat but his voting record shows he's a liberal. Hoeffel says he's a progressive on social issues but a "deficit hawk." He says the tax cuts Congress passed for Bush, which Brown supports, make it difficult for Congress to allocate the money that's needed for a prescription drug program for seniors.

Brown says the United States already spends more than enough to provide quality health care for every citizen. Inefficiency, not lack of spending, is why so many people are uninsured, she says.

Brown, 51, says she came to that conclusion running a think tank called the Center for Evidence Based Health Care Economics.

The former nurse said her combination of medical and business experience qualifies her to help solve the country's health-care woes.

Brown said her experience running a medical practice also gives her insight into Pennsylvania's medical malpractice crisis. Because of rising premiums, more and more doctors are leaving the state.

Generally, Republicans, including Brown, say putting a cap on jury awards for pain and suffering will lead to lower premiums. Democrats generally oppose limits. Hoeffel favors a flexible cap. If a jury awards more than the cap amount, a judge could weigh the two numbers and come up with a final figure, he says.

Campaign contributions have reflected each candidate's position on malpractice insurance. Brown has been popular with doctors; Hoeffel with lawyers.

Through Sept. 30, Brown had raised $482,000 in campaign contributions this election cycle and has lent her campaign an additional $315,000, according to campaign finance reports. Hoeffel has raised $1.2 million.

He hasn't lent any money to his campaign.

Brown has received $103,000 from political action committees, including $10,000 from the American Medical Association PAC and $5,000 from Associated Builders and Contractors.

Hoeffel has received $463,000 from PACs, including $4,000 from Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers and $5,500 from the International Longshoremen's Association.

In criticizing statements by the Brown campaign that he says are inaccurate, Hoeffel has dubbed Brown the "Doctor of Distortion."

During the radio debate on WNPV of Lansdale -- one of several campaign debates, including one Monday night in Lower Gwynedd Township -- Hoeffel said a Brown flier regarding the Pledge of Allegiance controversy was unfair.

The flier, distributed on July 4, said Hoeffel did not co-sponsor legislation to safeguard the words "under God" in the pledge.

Hoeffel said the flier implied that he didn't support the bill when in fact he voted for it.

Their back-and-forth on the radio last week left the third candidate in the race, John McDermott of the Constitution Party, largely silent. When Hoeffel and Brown wound down, McDermott, 51, of Northeast Philadelphia, said he didn't agree with either of them on several issues.

He said it's up to Middle Eastern countries to solve their own problems and it's up to consumers and the drug companies -- not the U.S. government -- to figure out how to get prescription drugs to seniors at affordable prices. McDermott has also said he's against abortion and that, rather than reform the Section 8 federal housing program, he would end the program.

Redistricting has shifted about half of the district from its traditional home in largely Republican Montgomery County to largely Democratic Northeast Philadelphia.

About 53 percent of the voters are in Montgomery County and 47 percent in the city.

Congressional Quarterly Magazine has put the 13th District race in the "Democrat favored" category.